Plant machinery worth £20,000 stolen during spate of thefts
Police have appealed for information after a spate of thefts during last weekend including a specialist piece of plant machinery.
The bright green Avant Skid Steer loader machine, worth around £20,000, was taken from a compound near Sambrook, north of Newport, after thieves forced their way through a locked gate overnight on Monday.
PC Lee Thomas from the Newport Safer Neighbourhood Team said: “We believe the offenders were in a vehicle suitable to carry the machine away as it would have made a considerable noise if driven in the middle of the night which would undoubtedly have disturbed nearby residents.
“Several building sites around the Newport area were also broken into over the past few days and quantities of diesel fuel stolen from bowsers kept on site to refuel works vehicles.
“In one of the incidents, officers arriving believed they caught sight of offenders at a distance but despite an extensive search including the use of a police helicopter no one could be located."
Elsewhere in the area, items including garden tools, a whacker plate machine, planters and a wooden bench were stolen from a number of properties in a series of crimes on both sides of the Shropshire and Staffordshire border.
PC Thomas added: “During the summer months, there is historically an increase in theft of items related to gardening and landscaping which are quickly sold on as unwanted items to keen unsuspecting DIY’ers by a variety of means.
“We are keen to make people aware that this type of criminality does go on and to check the provenance of items they are being offered, especially if they are at a 'too good to be missed' price.
“In Gnosall, just across the Staffordshire border during the same period, three narrowboats on the canal and sheds on local allotments were also broken into and items stolen.
“Although we cannot say for sure, one line of enquiry must of course be that such a number of incidents over a small space of time in both areas may be the work of the same person or group of people.”
Anyone with information is asked to contact Telford police on 101 or call the free Crimestoppers charity on 0800 555111.
